Tales of the Tye Dye Gang: an April May TR -Magic Kingdom, Epcot & home 10/27

[POLY1985]

How awesome that I am reading your last trip while you are on this trip.
Love Katie's Zebra skort! I always used to dress the boys in jungle type outfits for AK! Really looking forward to AK this trip. Haven't been to Rafiki's Planet Watch in years. Cute pics with Rafiki! You got a lot accomplished on your AK day!

 

[KatMark]

Great pics at the AK.

I hope you are having a wonderful time at Disney.

 

[blessedmom4]

How was your trip. PLEASE make sure I get the link when you start your TR so I can stay hopelessly behind then catch up once again!. Praying al is well and you had FUN!!!!

 

[Moira222]

How awesome that I am reading your last trip while you are on this trip.
Love Katie's Zebra skort! I always used to dress the boys in jungle type outfits for AK! Really looking forward to AK this trip. Haven't been to Rafiki's Planet Watch in years. Cute pics with Rafiki! You got a lot accomplished on your AK day!

You know Katie -- she is the fashion diva. She made sure to wear her zebra skort for AD this trip too. I'm going to have to look for a new one for her because she's about outgrown the one she has.

Loving your FB updates this week !!!

Great pics at the AK.

I hope you are having a wonderful time at Disney.

Thanks Kathy!

How was your trip. PLEASE make sure I get the link when you start your TR so I can stay hopelessly behind then catch up once again!. Praying al is well and you had FUN!!!!

Judy do I see a new link in your ticker? I need to check that out. no new TR yet, still have to finish this one! sigh I need more hours in the day.

I though of you and especially Rachel every time we passed the House of Blues. In my mind its "oh this is where Rachel is discovered!"

 

[Moira222]

Thursday we headed out to the Magic Kingdom – it was a special day! This was Marie’s actual 10th birthday.
I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but in my planning for this trip, I split the park in half – the first day we did the Fantasyland side of the Magic Kingdom. This day we were doing the Adventureland side of the park. Then the plan was to return to whatever our favorites were anywhere in the park.
Since O’Malley & Duchess had promised Marie some serious shopping time, we decided to head over to Downtown Disney first for a little while. It was a pretty dismal day. Very rainy..pouring for the most part.
The Aristocats were a bit anxious, and they headed over before we did. I’m not even sure what mode of transport they used. We walked over to take the ferry.

Can you see there’s a break in the rain as the skies are just very grey?

Katie and I had a groupon to ride on this balloon….but not so much in the pouring rain.

site of early performances by super star Rachel, Blessedmomof4’s daughter:

Did I mention the rain? Very very rainy. We wandered into the Lego store to get out of the rain.

Joe entertained himself by taking pictures of all of the Star Wars lego creations

We wandered in out & of a few other stores, but I stopped taking pictures. We did go to one of the newer counter service locations – Pollo Campero --- YUMMY chicken, really juicy, and great fried plantains! There are several other food windows here too, one of which is home to Joe’s new favorite Banana fosters smoothie

I don’t think we ever did find the Aristocats in Downtown Disney. We texted back & forth but we were on different path’s through the shops, so we didn’t actually meet up til we got to the Magic Kingdom!
Now, short of saying that our plan was to spend the day on the left hand side of the park, I can only rely on pictures to tell you want we did. I know, such a bad Dis’er! But I have to say, in my defense, that while Joe, Katie, and I try to take a more leisurely approach to doing the parks, Duchess, O’Malley and Marie had not been to Disney since 2007 and we kept up a pretty busy pace, going from one attraction to another and not taking a whole lot of time for absorbing the scenery. I kind of had to put my foot down one night about fireworks because dang it I HAVE to see the fireworks!!!
So I will share my photos, which tell me that we visited the Country Bears – something we had not done in several years, but a recent TR here on Dis had me wanting to go back again. It was a real hoot!

 

[Moira222]

We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – twice! – and had a great time.

(by the way, do you notice my handsome hubbys face? I finally got the ok to stop blurring him. )
No photos but I know that we went to the Hall of Presidents because it was pretty high on Joe’s list of attractions.
We still didn’t make it to Tom Sawyer Island. Perhaps this coming week??(I am writing from the auto train, Sanford FL bound!!)
The Haunted Mansion we also visited twice, but not in a row. I think we went once in the afternoon, and again at night.
I confess that I am scrambling to finish this (since I am writing this from the verandah at Saratoga Springs!!) so this will be a photo heavy wrap up. And with the rain we had when we were there, I did not take as many pictures as usual because camera was usually in a Ziploc bag to be protected from the rain, as was my phone.
For dinner we went to one of KatMark’s favorite spots, a first for us—The Plaza. I knew it had a lot of Marie’s favorites, so it seemed perfect for her birthday.
While I have no photos, I know that burgers & club sandwiches were ordered. For as empty as the restaurant was at dinner time, service was S L O W. seriously slow. Kind of weird considering that the food we ordered was not that complicated.
Disappointingly the server did not catch on to the fact that it was Marie’s actual tenth birthday, and no birthday cupcake or song with dessert. Bummer.
Funny little story – throughout the trip, Marie and O’Malley started almost every meal with a milkshake and finished with dessert. Now, we did not use the dining plan, and Joe and I, even on vacation, are of the mindset that if you can’t finish your dinner, you should wait till later for a dessert. So Katie was a bit envious of Marie’s sweets. Knowing that the Plaza was known for their ice cream, I told Katie that she could plan to have dessert here, even if it meant saving half her dinner.
So Katie ordered a club sandwich, and she asked for half of it to be packaged up so that she could save room for dessert. She picked the Sundae from the menu, and then got worried that it would be too big for her, so she talked Joe into sharing with her. (he was going to order his own)
Well the sundae arrived

and once she started digging in, Katie was more than a little sorry that she offered to share it – she wanted the whole thing. It was a little scary sitting between the two of them as they dug into that sundae! Katie was totally left wanting more! Being the nice mom that I am, I told her that after I had a tasted of my ice cream (I’d ordered from the kids menu & then had my ice cream held until we were ready to leave the restaurant) that she could finish it. That made her happy J
After dinner we made our way back to Tomorrowland & checked out the progress of the world

and managed to catch a bit of the dance party, going on despite the rain

We rode the people mover

and caught a double rainbow on our way back to Space Mountain

I finally was brave enough to ride Space Mountain…and I loved it! I have learned that the visual effect of moving in the dark past the lights is what really throws me off & starts the nausea, so I just closed my eyes through that part & then Joe let me know when to open them. We had a blast!
After Space Mountain we headed back to toward the carousel to catch some fireworks. I really wanted to be out on Main Street, but it was too late, we couldn’t get there.
Watching fireworks back by the Carousel is a little strange, because the fireworks are going off all round you. You can get dizzy looking back and forth if you try. I sort of focused on the area behind the Beast’s castle.

After fireworks, we stopped to catch Mickey’s Philharmagic (no photos) and then headed down toward the Haunted Mansion (no photos here either!).

and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I think this is the night we did the Jungle Cruise as well, but again, no photos.
I have no notes from this trip, but recall that we did stay till the park closed at 11 or pretty darn close.

 

[Moira222]

Our last park day was a bit up in the air, but everyone agreed on Epcot. After a breakfast of leftovers we got a decent start to the park – my first photo of the SSE globe is 9:27 a.m.

We headed over to Soarin & managed a ride with about a 30-40 minute wait.

Our real destination for the day was the World Showcase – once again I had tried to split a park into two days, so our first Epcot day was primarily Future World, this day was mostly World Showcase. Marie & Katie had their hopes set on accomplishing a secret mission, and Duchess took the lead.
I had to get a photo of the poppy field from the Oz area – the kids play area was in the back….but my group was not much for lollygagging over photos!

though I did pause to get a photo of the lake.

and Canada

The boys had moved on ahead of us as we decided a game plan on where to start the mission & what our plan was.
Boys AWOL I stopped at the Ireland kiosk (it was Flower & Garden show if you’ve forgotten) and bought a trio of desserts and picked up four spoons. They were awesome.
We finally found the boys here

getting an early start to the day J
After enjoying a cold one, they decided that perhaps a little food would be a good idea & they picked up fish & chips. I wasn’t ready to eat, so entertained myself with a bit of wandering. I tried to call the red phone booths, but couldn’t get through. Oh Well!
I did enjoy some of the scenery

I found Peter on the roof top

ready to take on Hook

who was avoiding the crock

and eventually made my way back to where the group was finishing their fish & chips…and beer

Katie and I caught Mary Poppins with a very short queue (no one wanted to wait in a line more than 5 people. Hmm I think I need a trip with DISers who will wait in character lines with me!)

While Duchess & Marie received their Perry Mission. The mission took the girls back to the UK to explore I don’t even know what. I lost them for a little while. Eventually Joe, O’Malley and I headed on up to France, knowing that our secret agents would catch up soon.

We stopped for these lovely beauties ==grey goose for Joe, Grand Marnier for me.

and paused to watch the performance of the acrobats in front of Chefs de France. Eventually the secret agents caught up with us, and Duchess made them halt their mission to enjoy her own Grey Goose slushy.

 

[Moira222]

Our group made our way over to Morocco and while the girls (and Duchess) resumed their mission, I’d heard from a cast member that Aladdin & Jasmine were just about to arrive on Carpet for some photo opps. I headed back to get in line & Joe caught up to me after getting his own Grand Marnier slushy. Hmm have you lost count yet? Joe did! I had to help him with that last one… it was a chore, really LOL
Turns out that the tip I’d had was just for the line starting. Ugh. It was hot back there, no shade in the line. But we waited, and by the time the girls finished their mission, they were just in time to join us to see Jasmine & Aladdin. Katie and I had a great conversation about Apu and what sort of mischief he was up to.

By now the heat of the day, the long wait in the sun, and several drinks were taking their toll on Joe, Katie and I. We were ready for some pool & relaxation time.
Duchess, O’Malley & Marie continued on to more Perry missions, and after stopping for a bite for me at a nearby kiosk, we took the ferry to the front of the World showcase

and headed back to Saratoga Springs for a break.
As we traveled back, Katie and I thought we’d give it another try to take that balloon ride at Downtown Disney before getting pool time. We all went back to the room & changed into swimsuits. Joe headed off to the quiet pool at Congress park and Katie and I walked over to take the water taxi to downtown Disney.
Elevator photo:

We had our destination in sight…

however, the skies were once again not with us

sigh. Disappointed, we stopped to soothe our frustration with an ice cream (Okay only Katie got ice cream, I just had a taste) and took the water taxi back over to the main pool for a quick dip.

On the taxi ride back I realized we were not going to be able to use the groupon, so I messaged a fellow DISer who I knew was headed to Disney the next day. I was more than happy to gift the groupon to her so that she & her daughter were able to make use of the balloon ride.
We didn’t stay too long at the pool–about a half hour or so -- the skies were still dark, and even in the warm temps it felt a bit cool to me. Plus we had a dinner date with our friends!

We met up with Joe in the room & we all changed & prepared to return to Epcot. We wandered down to this area

and kept going to check in for our dinner reservations at Coral Reef. Baaaddd me, I had it in our head that our dinner reservations were for6:30 and when we got there we found out they were for 7:40. UGH and the wait was so long that we figured we’d go visit Nemo & his friends and then come back.
After our tour with Nemo and Dory we headed back. Now we’d had Coral Reef on our radar for several trips. I’ve read mixed reviews of this location – some were amazing experiences, and some real turn offs.
We were seated with this view

so it had to be great, right?
NOT
First of all, there were 4 adults and two 10 year old girls. They squished us into a half circle booth, while they seated 2 adults and 2 kids at a table with 6 chairs right across from us. Really? We were really packed in there with next to no elbow room at all.
Our server really was not at all attentive, and didn’t get our orders right at all. Joe’s was completely wrong, and they took so long to bring his correct entrée that the rest of us (we were starving) were nearly finished with our meals before his came. No apologies. While I didn’t order an adult beverage, the rest of our group did—but our server never checked back to see if they wanted refills or anything else to drinks.

And oddly once again we had no recognition at all for Marie’s birthday. Hmm. May does not seem to be the best month for birthdays being recognized!
I recall that everyone did enjoy their food, its just that crowded seating, inattentive server, screaming toddlers all added in to make it a dinner not worth repeating.
I will say it was pretty watching the big aquarium during our meal. And its good that it was such a nice view because by the time we got out of there, Illuminations was just finishing. Yes. We were there for at least 2 hours. Ugh. We all felt like we’d wasted quite a bit of time!
Wanting to at least get in one or two attractions before calling it a night (and a vacation!) we headed over to mexico. Three Caballeros is one of our favorite rides, and Katie as always is mesmerized watching the lady paint:

The Perry missions were over for the night by this time and we headed up to tour other countries. We stopped in Germany and browsed. I picked up these

for Joe’s dad & a bottle of apple wine for myself. (It took me until August or so to drink it but I thoroughly enjoyed it!)
After this it was getting late, and we made our way slowly out of the park. I had the gang leave ahead of me because I still had one last secret purchase to make. See, during the day, Katie had lost a tooth! How can you lose a tooth in DisneyWorld and not get a visit from an extra special fairy, right? You cannot believe what a hard time I had finding a really cool small item to deposit under a certain pillow. I finally stopped in MouseGears and picked up a special pin for Katie. The gang had already caught the bus so I was one ride behind them in getting back to the room.

Once everyone was settled & my little princess crashed for the night, I set everything up so that she knew that her tooth fairy called Tink up to make a special delivery. She was thrilled when she woke up the next day!
I’ll just wrap this up to say that Saturday was drive home day. We loaded up the cars and drove out to Keke’s Café for a late breakfast/brunch. Loaded up on carbs and coffee, we began our long drive home home. UGH was it ever a long drive. Going home always seems to take so much longer …I guess because we were tired!
While I cannot find any photos from the ride (and I know I took some!) we did drive pretty hard, stopping only for gas & coffee periodically. We stopped in South Carolina for dinner and a Shoneys. Bleck. Nuff said. There was a tourist trap gift shop next door, so we did wander through mostly to stretch our legs.
We stopped at South of the Border, but it was about 11 p.m. by then and everything was closed except the fireworks store and one other store that was pretty crappy. Oh well.
I really had wanted to stop for a rest stop snooze of an hour or two, but was out voted. We rode on through the night. By morning I was dog freaking tired ….no matter what I tried I could not fall asleep in the car so even though Joe drove from about midnight till sunrise, I was not rested at all.
I made it pretty clear to Joe that next time we drive, we WILL be stopping for at least a few hours over night – lights out, music off, etc. I don’t have to have a hotel, but need the quiet and not car lights & street lights passing me by at 70 miles an hour.
Let me say thanks to anyone who is still reading my slow moving TR. I’m not sure how much of a TR I’ll do for the October trip …maybe one that’s mostly photos. I just find my time spread so thin lately that I am behind on reading all my TR subscriptions, and now I have girl scout web updates to do as well in my “spare time” HA. I did take notes this time so maybe I’ll start one once I am caught up reading.
237 days till I am back in Disney World!

 

[KatMark]

It looks like you had a lot of the same rain we had in August...it was awful...too much water.

I'm sorry service was so slow at the Plaza for you; we've always had good luck with that (although I've read others with slow service as well).

I need to get back to Country Bears.

Love that you got your Slush at Epcot.

Love all of your character pictures (Mary Poppins, Jasmine & Aladdin).

 

[tinacaplan]

Great finish at EPCOT! I love those Grey Goose slushies; they're perfection...seriously not too sweet and so very icy cold. Heaven on a hot day in the Florida sun! And your pictures have me excited about the possibility of a Flower and Garden trip in my future! But we're probably not going back until 2015 so I'm trying not to get too excited about anything related to Disney!

Sorry the car ride back was so long, but I am very impressed with your ability to drive through the night.

Would love to hear about your October trip, as your FB pictures have piqued my interest, but I hear ya on the time thing. I'm so behind on the Dis that I totally avoided it for a long time~!

 

[Moira222]

It looks like you had a lot of the same rain we had in August...it was awful...too much water.

I'm sorry service was so slow at the Plaza for you; we've always had good luck with that (although I've read others with slow service as well).

I need to get back to Country Bears.

Love that you got your Slush at Epcot.

Love all of your character pictures (Mary Poppins, Jasmine & Aladdin).

I think that service time is hit or miss at any restaurant really.
and we did have quite a bit of rain....though maybe not as much as you had in August. Funny, remembering rain at Disney World is like remembering childbirth pain -- it fades so quickly in comparison to all the fun stuff!

I think Country Bears are one of those every 2 - 3 years for us. They are funny but I wouldn't want to go every trip.

I want to do WDW with you Kathy -- I bet you'd wait in character lines with me!

Great finish at EPCOT! I love those Grey Goose slushies; they're perfection...seriously not too sweet and so very icy cold. Heaven on a hot day in the Florida sun! And your pictures have me excited about the possibility of a Flower and Garden trip in my future! But we're probably not going back until 2015 so I'm trying not to get too excited about anything related to Disney!

Sorry the car ride back was so long, but I am very impressed with your ability to drive through the night.

Would love to hear about your October trip, as your FB pictures have piqued my interest, but I hear ya on the time thing. I'm so behind on the Dis that I totally avoided it for a long time~!

I do love those slushies..... and you're right, they are just the right amount of cold, sweet and alcohol. mmm is it too early? guess so since I am at work

I probably will TR.. I can't resist sharing the picx and stories, you know?

The car ride. ugh. Thing is, Joe works a lot of night shifts, so he's pretty good with the over night driving. Me, sadly I feel as if I could fall asleep behind the wheel but as soon as I move over to the passenger seat, I'm wide awake. BAH!

I wish we could afford to fly every time, but driving allows us to save not only on airfaire vs gas but also we can bring quite a bit of stuff that we don't have to then buy at WDW, and it means I can bring my electric griddle and cook breakfast in the room (and sometimes lunch too) and all those savings really add up.

 

[eandesmom]

(by the way, do you notice my handsome hubbys face? I finally got the ok to stop blurring him. )

that had to be a total pain!

and once she started digging in, Katie was more than a little sorry that she offered to share it – she wanted the whole thing. It was a little scary sitting between the two of them as they dug into that sundae! Katie was totally left wanting more! Being the nice mom that I am, I told her that after I had a tasted of my ice cream (I’d ordered from the kids menu & then had my ice cream held until we were ready to leave the restaurant) that she could finish it. That made her happy

It's hard when part of a group is letting the kids do something you wouldn't do, perfect compromise!

Such a bummer that the balloon never worked out, I do hope you had more time to relax and soak it in on the recent trip. I have a feeling I may find myself in that same situation in Dec...I'll be with commando's who haven't been in a while.

LOVED the AK pics (I was way behind) what great character interactions!

Coral Reef sounds like a bit of a bust, which is frustrating as it always seems like it "should" be good and heaven knows it's not cheap. Nice of the tooth fairy to enlist Tink.

Other than the horrendous sounding Autotrain ride home, I hope you had a magical trip! I hear you on the time thing...it's hard, I am forever behind anymore.

 

[Moira222]

that had to be a total pain!

Yes, it really was! Now I can just upload. woot woot!

It's hard when part of a group is letting the kids do something you wouldn't do, perfect compromise!

I was feeling a bit guilty because she was sort of drooling over the desserts and like most kids, Katie would be just as happy to eat dessert over dinner most of the time. I personally hate spending $20 on a meal that she's going to let sit for dessert.

Such a bummer that the balloon never worked out, I do hope you had more time to relax and soak it in on the recent trip. I have a feeling I may find myself in that same situation in Dec...I'll be with commando's who haven't been in a while.

Its funny you said that Cynthia -- I think there was a little too much relaxing this past trip. actually to be more specific there was too much sleeping in. I like to hit the parks hard in the am, then relax mid day by the pool or something when its hot out, then do more parks later. I saw only one park opening this past trip.

LOVED the AK pics (I was way behind) what great character interactions!

We had a lot of fun there!

Coral Reef sounds like a bit of a bust, which is frustrating as it always seems like it "should" be good and heaven knows it's not cheap. Nice of the tooth fairy to enlist Tink.

Other than the horrendous sounding Autotrain ride home, I hope you had a magical trip! I hear you on the time thing...it's hard, I am forever behind anymore.

FUnny thing, sometime over the summer, Katie figured out the source of the tooth fairy. But she still thinks that Tinkerbell delivered the pin. Love my kid's little imaginative world!

the good thing about the extended ride home was that I consumed quite a bit of complimentary wine so the evening went much faster for me than it did everyone else on the train

 

[blessedmom4]

Judy do I see a new link in your ticker? I need to check that out. no new TR yet, still have to finish this one! sigh I need more hours in the day.

I though of you and especially Rachel every time we passed the House of Blues. In my mind its "oh this is where Rachel is discovered!"

LOVE it, Thank you!

Beautiful new pics!

​

 

[POLY1985]

Loved your update! Yayyyy I can finally see my cuz-in-law enjoying himself! I too must see fireworks! I feel bad that Marie didn't get recognized for her birthday. Zach had good luck with that when we took him last year. We had good luck last week for our anniversary with the exception of BOG - no grey stuff! Finally tried Grey Goose slushie in this trip- yum! Sorry about your Coral Reef experience - we've always had a good time there. Hate the long drive home when we drive. Doug always drives straight through.

We have to do a trip together!

 

[Moira222]

LOVE it, Thank you!

Beautiful new pics!

​

Hope you all had a fun Halloween Judy!!

Loved your update! Yayyyy I can finally see my cuz-in-law enjoying himself! I too must see fireworks! I feel bad that Marie didn't get recognized for her birthday. Zach had good luck with that when we took him last year. We had good luck last week for our anniversary with the exception of BOG - no grey stuff! Finally tried Grey Goose slushie in this trip- yum! Sorry about your Coral Reef experience - we've always had a good time there. Hate the long drive home when we drive. Doug always drives straight through.

We have to do a trip together!

we DO have to work on a trip together. Jean is talking about a cruise next spring instead of DisneyWorld, but Lynne is still working on it. so we shall see how that turns out.

The train was not bad going down, but the long delay coming home was a bit frustrating because by the time we got to Va, we should have been home already. Of course, flying is always preferred but not always the best budget choice, ya know?
Loved your FB Pics...awesome!!! Joe said he wanted to tease Doug about backing out of a real costume but didn't want to do it in front of D's co workers. funny!!

 

[blessedmom4]

Well...You KNEW I would be by today, didn't you??? I have been waiting on an update, but if you are like me, life keeps getting in the way! Hope you have a wonderful, blessed day!!!
​

 

[Moira222]

Happy Thanksgiving Judy!!! I have just been caught up in life. Last week I finally got my photo pass pictures so I need to get moving & share my trip.

 

[MEK]

I'm glad I found your Tr bumped because I was really far behind.

So you did all those updates on the auto train? Cool! What a perfect place to DIS away.

So glad Joe gave you permission to unblur his face. It was really unflattering.

OK - I read so much I'm not sure where to start.

Boo for not a great meal at Coral Reef. That stinks. We ate there in June and had a fab lunch, but your meal sounds painful.

Too bad you didn't get up on the balloon. I hope you were able to in October. It's totally fabulous.

Your Epcot pictures are lovely. Every time I see a pic of the R&C bar I know I need to go there and belly up for a beer. It's just too cute.

The ice cream at the Plaza looks yummy.

Too bad no one recognized Marie's B-day on two occasions. I got Denny to wear his button for a grand total of 1 meal. party pooper.

Loved your updates and I'm really looking forward to your next TR.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!